This invention relates to a system for distinguishing or counting spoken itemized expressions without relying on conventional word recognition devices. It is particularly suitable for use in combination with programmed conversation recording systems.
Programmed conversation recording systems of the type described in my previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,436 can be used to conduct a simulated conversation with a speaker by alternately presenting the speaker with messages, and then recording spoken responses. Such programmed conversations are preferably sequenced by waiting for a pause in the spoken response to indicate that the response has been completed. By way of example, the recording system may wait for a pause of two seconds in a response before presenting a next message to the speaker.
A programmed conversation recording system can also be designed to wait for a pause to indicate that the speaker has completed his response, and then to gauge the duration of the response to determine the nature of the response. For example, a short response to the prompt "Are you calling to place an order?", can be taken as indicative of a positive answer, whereas a longer response can be taken as indicative of a negative answer. ("No, I am calling about my bill.") Note the related discussion in my previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,817.
Another approach to controlling a programmed conversation employs word recognition devices for specific words to recognize these words in the response. Thus, the recognition of seven or ten specific digits in the response to the prompt "May I have your phone number?" can be indicative of a complete response. However, the technology to recognize spoken digits, particularly over the telephone, is not suitable for many applications either due to high cost or insufficient reliability of such recognition systems.
It is a primary object of this invention to provide a system which distinguishes spoken itemized expressions such as words, characters, numbers and strings of words from spoken continuous speech, without relying on state of the art word recognition devices.
It is another object to provide a system which counts spoken itemized expressions such as words, characters, numbers, and strings of words.
It is another object to identify the beginning and end of a string of spoken itemized expressions.
It is another object to identify the lack of a string of spoken itemized expressions.
It is another object to measure separately the duration of higher amplitude and subsequent lower amplitude portions of a voice message, and to use these measured durations in order to characterize the nature, content, or duration of the expression.
It is another object to recognize and/or count the number of accented syllables within a voiced message as an aid to classification.